B is for Bookies: A Langley & Porter Mystery by A. N. Horton

Author:A. N. Horton [Horton, A. N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-05T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Reputation

BEFORE I KNEW it, we had arrived in the neighborhood that Penny the servant had claimed the girl named Edith hailed from. Mr. Langley emerged from the carriage long enough to tell Harold to drive us to the parish and a few moments later we were there. We left the coach, thanked Harold, and made our way inside. It being a weekday in the early afternoon, there weren't many people inside. A few scattered here or there, bowing their heads in prayer or napping on a pew in the church's offered shelter. My employer's fine dress and gentlemanly manner caught the attention of the local priest soon enough and he approached us serenely, an expression of placid welcoming on his wrinkled face.

"Blessed afternoon, sir and madam, what can I do for you?" he asked as he approached, having guessed, correctly, how badly out of place we were inside the bounds of the city's poorest district.

"We are looking for a woman whom we know lives in this neighborhood. We were hoping that you could help us to locate her, father. It is a matter of some urgency, you see, as we have been called upon to aid in the investigation of the disappearance of her sister."

The father raised a brow as I glanced at my employer. Mr. Langley had been known to stretch the truth in our investigations when it behooved him to get answers out of our witnesses but lying to a priest made me want to cross myself right then and there. Though I imagined that would be somewhat of a giveaway. I stilled my hands and my conscious therefore and waited for the holy man's response.

"Of course," he said pleasantly. "Though I would not want to interrupt the prayers of my parishioners. Please, if you'll follow me to my office, we can speak privately."

Mr. Langley thanked him and I smiled and we followed after the old priest as he made his way, slowly, through the sanctuary and to a small alcove in the back. We entered the office through a door in that alcove and emerged into a comfortable room with bookshelves lining the walls and a large mahogany desk in the center with one high backed wooden chair behind it and two more comfortable looking seats in front. The priest sat in the high backed chair and gestured for us to join him in the others. We did. I fought the urge to gaze around at all of the beautiful old texts around us and kept my eyes on the old man instead.

"A sister who has gone missing, you say, how terrible," he tsked as he sat, shaking his head at the news.

"Yes," Mr. Langley answered, a tone of gravity in his voice as well. "It's unfortunate. We are hoping to find the woman safe and sound."

"You work for the police?"

"In a consulting capacity, yes."

"I see. Who is this girl then who's disappeared?"

"We are told her name is Edith and that she has a sister named Sarah who still lives in this neighborhood.

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